


day thirteen: invitation

by Hannah (hannahoftheinternet)



Series: HartmonFest 2019 [13]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Apologies, Established Relationship, Flirting, Good Hartley Rathaway, Hartmon Fest 2019, M/M, POV Cisco Ramon, POV Third Person, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 16:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18014321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahoftheinternet/pseuds/Hannah
Summary: "I would like to formally invite you to my house for a get-together as a gesture of goodwill. I appreciate the help that the members of Team Flash have given me and I offer my help and hospitality if it is accepted in return. " or, Team Flash is invited to Hartley's sorry-I-was-an-asshole party.





	day thirteen: invitation

Cisco hadn’t been aware that he had a mailbox at S.T.A.R. Labs until this morning. Actually, he hadn’t even known that S.T.A.R. Labs even  _ had _ mailboxes for the employees until mailboxes. He thinks no one else knows either, not even Barry, who owns the place.

And yet, there it is: a set of slots against the wall in the front office that they never use. The nametag on the middle left-hand slot reads  _ Ramon, Cisco _ in handwriting that is not his. Tentatively, he reaches inside and fishes around. To his great surprise, his fingers brush against cool paper. He grabs onto what feels like an envelope and brings it into the light to read. It’s addressed to him in blue pen, and there’s no return address.  _ That’s bold _ .

Cisco slides his only long fingernail (broken nails are part of the engineering process) along the underside of the flap, but it tears instead of opening smoothly. He grumbles a Spanglish curse, tugging the letter out. It says:

_ Dear Cisco, _

_ I would like to formally invite you to my house for a get-together as a gesture of goodwill. I appreciate the help that the members of Team Flash have given me and I offer my help and hospitality if it is accepted in return. The get-together is this Saturday from 4:30 to 8:00 P.M. Please R.S.V.P. using my phone number, written below. I hope to see you there. _

_ Best, _

_ Hartley Rathaway _

His phone number is written below his name, but that is already stored in Cisco’s phone. Hartley can be so pretentious sometimes. He literally could have texted Cisco. They’re dating. They text. It’s not that difficult.

He reads the invitation again. And then again. And then he fishes around in Barry’s and Caitlin’s mailboxes and finds the same kind of envelope.

Then he goes up to the Cortex, where Caitlin and Barry are having an loud discussion about something. They stop when he comes in, so he takes the opportunity to hand his friends their invitations and announce, “We’re invited to Hartley’s ‘sorry I was an asshole’ party.”

***

Cisco has never been to Hartley’s house before. They usually spend time at his place, because Hartley doesn’t want to be seen by his parents or the help or whatever. It’s not that he’s ashamed, just that he likes his privacy. Which is understandable.

But now, standing on the doorstep of the house, which is more of a mansion, Cisco thinks that he could spend a year wandering around that place and never see anyone else who lived there.

Barry and Caitlin are standing on either side of him on the doorstep, but back a bit, wearing matching ‘he’s  _ your _ boyfriend’ expressions. Cisco sighs and rings the doorbell.

The door opens almost instantly, and out steps Hartley, wearing a blazer and a dress shirt buttoned all the way up. He looks ridiculously formal, and Cisco smiles. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Hartley says, and he looks a little flustered. “Come on in.”

Awkwardly, they go in. There’s already, like, twenty people there. “Who else did you invite?” Caitlin asks, peeling off her coat.

Hartley shrugs stiffly and takes her coat from her, turning to hang it on a rack by the door. “I alienated a lot of people before I… fixed myself. I’m just trying to make amends.”

“Okay.” Barry disappears in one direction, and Caitlin in another. Barry disappears in one direction, and Caitlin goes in another. Cisco goes into the next room and goes into another room, followed by Hartley, and the dining table, which is covered in about a hundred different kinds of food. 

“Holy cow,” he says. “Is that  _ caviar _ ?”

“Too much?” Hartley asks, eyes slightly wider than usual with distress.

Cisco unbuttons the top button of Hartley’s shirt. “Much too much,” he informs his boyfriend. “Untuck your shirt, Hart. And maybe ditch the blazer. You look like you’re going to a business meeting.”

Hartley does as suggested. “I don’t know where I would be without you,  _ mi tesoro _ . The land of the living, probably.”

Cisco laughs along with him. “That’s the version of you that people deserve to see. Funny and smiling. Even though you’re still a dick.”

“You love me.”

“Unfortunately.”

Then one of the people who used to work at S.T.A.R. Labs before the explosion shows up, and Hartley has to make small talk, so Cisco grabs a plate, loads it with guacamole and chips, and wanders around.

After maybe fifteen minutes, Cisco is staring at some piece of abstract art on the wall, trying to figure out if it means anything, when someone touches his shoulder. Survival instinct says  _ throw your guacamole _ . Rationality says  _ absolutely not. _

It’s Hartley, because of course it is. “I like your party,” Cisco informs him, leaning against his boyfriend. “You did a good thing."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry that I keep forgetting to post these. Life is crazy. For instance, I came out to my mom! She took it well, thankfully.
> 
> Comments are a writer's best friend!


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